Space

Slovakia and Earth Observation Systems

The activities of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMI) are oriented towards satellite information applications for flood forecasting, "nowcasting" (short-range weather forecasting) and monitoring support.

Within the framework of cooperation with EUMETSAT, SHMI has started preparation of a project aimed at the utilization of satellite data in the hydrological warning service. The project will belong to the Satellite Application Facility group of projects and should start in 2003. The institutions participating in the project are EUMETSAT (with administrative and scientific support from France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland), the Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Croatia, the Hungarian Meteorological Service, SHMI and the Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.

The second project that SHMI has been involved in is the Central European Initiative Nowcasting Project. The project is oriented towards the utilization of satellite and weather radar data in the "nowcasting" of severe weather phenomena. The main task is to elaborate methods and create software for use in forecasting centres in all meteorological services. Participating countries in the project are Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.

In 2002, the first of the new Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites was launched by EUMETSAT. A representative of SHMI was one of the participants at the event. The MSG system, based on advanced technology, will provide users with data with better spatial and temporal resolution. This will aid weather forecasters in the recognition and prediction of dangerous weather phenomena such as thunderstorms and fog. Within the next months, SHMI plans to install a receiving system for MSG data.

SHMI took part in the Scientific and Technical Group Meeting, the Administrative and Finance Group Meeting, the EUMETSAT Advisory Committee Meeting, a remote sensing seminar organized by the Italian National Research Council's Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Rome and the ESA European Space Research Institute in Frascati, Italy, and the European Conference on Severe Storms (2002) and a EUMETSAT workshop organized during the Conference.

The Image and CORINE Land Cover 2000 Project is coordinated by the European Environmental Agency. The aim of the project is to update the CLC90 database, which represents the state of land cover of Europe for the years 1986- 1995, to that in 2000 (plus or minus one year), as well as to identify land cover changes in Europe for the years 1990-2000. The project work in the Slovak Republic is supervised by the Slovak Environmental Agency in Banská Bystrica and the SAS Institute of Geography in Bratislava. Updating of the CLC90 database was needed for different environmental applications in individual countries and at the European level (above all in connection with the identification, analysis and evaluation of landscape changes). The Image and CORINE Land Cover 2000 Project consists of two parts: (a) Image 2000, including the preparation of Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper satellite images for updating the CLC90 database; (b) CLC 2000: updating of the CLC90 database.

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic coordinates the Integrated Administrative Control System (IACS) project. One of the aims of IACS is to ensure control of subsidies linked to agricultural land by means of aerial and satellite images. Part of IACS is the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). Preparation of the system is within the responsibility of the Research Institute for Pedology and Protection of Soil in Bratislava. The essential mission of LPIS is to produce a topical list of parcels (production blocks) of agricultural land of the Slovak Republic by means of geo-referred aerial images and to store the images in a computer database. Future subsidy control will rely on the application of satellite images to identify various agricultural crops on individual parcels.

In the area of forestry, the National Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests is applied. The Programme also includes a project entitled "Methods of Monitoring of Forest Health Conditions Based on Remote Sensing Data" within the responsibility of the Forest Research Institute in Zvolen. The aim of the project is to develop a methodology for identifying the condition of health of forests in Slovakia using satellite images.